Name: Australian Journal of Social Issues Publisher: Australian Council of Social Service Audience: Academic Format: Magazine/Journal Subject: Sociology and social work Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2009 Australian Council of Social
Service ISSN:0157-6321

This important volume traces the origins of homophobia (or
heterosexism) in Australia from the mid-1800s to the present. While it
fundamentally takes an historical perspective, as its subtitle suggests,
it has a far broader scope and therefore appeal. The contributors come
from a spectrum of disciplines including Australian, gender and legal
studies, political science, philosophy and sociology. The chapters
similarly cover a wide range of areas from the medical, legal and
educational to the social, cultural and media aspects.

There are several themes or unique features of this collection that
weave throughout the chapters and these are underscored as well in the
comprehensive introduction by the editor. The first main theme is that
of the importance of understanding the past if we hope to know the
present. For example, Yorick Smaal and Clive Moore visit the homophobia
of Queensland one hundred years ago around the time of the introduction
of the criminal code where they draw on data of '116 homosexual
charges from the Queensland criminal justice system between 1890 and
1914' (p. 64). These comprised 17 percent of all the immorality
charges for that period and the authors present some empirical evidence
to argue that the police 'using the new arsenal of laws...began to
choose their charges carefully, targeting certain groups of men, and
putting into practice a clear expression of homophobia and organised
repression' (p. 75). Another legally-oriented chapter is that by
Graham Willett about the policing of sexuality in the 1950s. He reminds
us of the dominant discourses of 'homosexuality as crime, sin or
bio-medical disorder' in the last century and how these inform
homophobic views today.

A second thread deals with the consequences or repercussions of
prejudice. That is the violence, both physical and psychological, that
flows when discriminatory interpersonal attitudes are not held in check.
Here the chapter by Peter Robinson which reports his interviews with
twenty-two older gay males is revealing in the personal experiences of
repression and violence encountered.

There are many expressions around fear and shame, as well as the
recounting of clandestine, secretive and double-lives that resulted from
the 'social opprobrium' for men entering their adulthood in
the mid-20th century. Then there are stories of verbal assaults in
public, being the subject of law enforcement crackdowns and the
insidious threat of police entrapment.

A third excellent feature of this book, at least for me, was its
exploration of same-sex attractions for women and to that end there are
two chapters which focus specifically on lesbians. Chapter 2 by Lucy
Chesser examines the situation for women in same-sex relationships in
the mid to late 1800s. She says it is hard to ascribe the label
'homophobia' because that 'implies fear or hatred or
repulsion' whereas for female same-sex relations of previous
centuries it was more a case that they 'were not normally taken
seriously enough to warrant those kinds of powerful feelings' (p.
39). They were treated as curiosities or merely absent from any
documentary records. That is not to say that there was not violence
against them, especially by intimate males, but in general both from the
historic record and in terms of public perceptions lesbians in those
times were rendered 'invisible'.

The other contribution which addresses homophobia against lesbians
is by Ruth Ford which presents case studies centred around women's
experiences in the mid-20th century. Importantly, Ford shows how
'discrimination on the grounds of sexuality was not limited to
verbal abuse and/or violent physical attacks by individuals but was also
sanctioned by institutions including the police force, the medical
profession, judicial system, educational authorities and the press'
(p. 87). She also shows how there is no singular homophobic consequence
for it ranges from verbal abuse to the loss of employment or removal of
children. Such reactions are also not solely based on perceptions of
sexuality because class, age, marital status and other
socio-demographics clearly have an impact on how women in same-sex
relationships were treated in the 1940s to 1960s in Australia.

Overall, this is an instructive work because it does force us to
take that longer-term view of homophobia tracing its origins in a
distinctly Australian way. In addition, the collection touches on the
notion of prejudice and how multi-faceted it is and that homophobia is
not isolated from other forms of discrimination and prejudices and
certainly not from the historical, social and cultural roots from which
they emerge. This volume, it also should be said, is highly readable and
it is refreshing that most contributors have taken a personal approach
to their writing making this a surprisingly accessible book,
notwithstanding the quality and depth of the scholarship and the gravity
of subject matter.